Will C. Crawford High School (also known as the Crawford Educational Complex) is a high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 located in the El Cerrito

El Cerrito, San Diego, California

El Cerrito, Spanish for "the little hill," is a neighborhood of the Mid-City region of San Diego, California. El Cerrito is a residential neighborhood, consisting mostly of suburban homes, with some commercial activity along the streets that define its borders....

 neighborhood of San Diego, California

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

. It is part of the San Diego Unified School District

San Diego City Schools

San Diego Unified School District is the school district of San Diego, California. It was founded in 1854...

. Erected in 1957 and dedicated in 1958, it is a comprehensive school serving 1,500 students in grades 9-12. According to the California Department of Education statistics, Crawford is the most diverse high school in the state of California.

History

The school was named after Dr. Will C. Crawford, Superintendent of the San Diego Unified Schools from 1934 to 1954. and was officially opened during a dedication ceremony on April 27, 1958.

Decision on School Mascot and Colors

In 1957, the incomming Horace Mann Junior Hight School graduating 9th Grade class and transfer students from Hoover High Scholl formed the 10th and 11th grade class (at the time, the school was 10th thru 12th grade). there was no 12th grade the first year. The entire student body of Crawford High School decided on the school colors and mascot. There was a vote between crimson, white and blue or black and teal but crimson, white and blue had won. The mascot was decided on Dr.Crawford's other major career, an Air Force Pilot, they voted the mascot as being some kind of aircraft or bird but to keep rivalry with Hoover High School(whos mascot was the Cardinal), and because the yearbook was named Centaur, it was decided that the mascot will be a Colt. The alma mater was later written and the Pacer newspaper was founded.

Crawford Educational Complex

Crawford High School re-opened in 2004 as the Crawford Educational Complex through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It now consists of four schools within a school: The School of Law and Business (LAB), Multimedia and Visual Arts School (MVAS), Invention and Design Educational Academy (IDEA) and the Community Health and Medical Practices School (CHAMPS).

The 50th anniversary

In the 2007/2008 school year, Crawford celebrated its 50th anniversary, alumni from various classes visited the school, the 50th edition of the Centaur Yearbook was dedicated to the alumni and the graduating class of 2008, which was the first Crawford class to graduate while spending all four years in a small school. The campus was repainted blue and crimson by the end of the school year.

Small Schools

Crawford offers a unique experience for its students. The campus offers "schools within a school" thanks to a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Here are the small schools:

Community Health and Medical Practices School (CHAMPS)

A rigorous college preparatory curriculum that integrates health and medical themes. The AVID program helps students achieve both present and future goals.

The small school colors are Red and White.

Specialized courses:

• Chemistry of Nutrition
• Computer Applications
• Health Essentials
• Medical/Community Health Internship
• Certified Nursing Assistant (ROP)

CHAMPS Website

Invention and Design Educational Academy (IDEA)

Provides students with personalized opportunities to explore their community, country, and world, as well as their own lives as shaped by new inventions and technology. The Academy also offers the opportunity to work on real world and inquiry-oriented projects throughout the college preparatory curriculum in a smaller, more personalized learning environment.

The small school colors are black and yellow.

Specialized Courses:

• Pre-Engineering & Design
• Principals of Engineering
• CAD Drafting and Architecture
• Web Design
• Auto
• Business Environments
• Computer Applications
• Invention & Society

IDEA Website

School of Law and Business (LAB)

Allows students to explore their interest in law enforcement, the legal system, and business in a rigorous college preparatory curriculum that enables students to successfully meet the challenges of continuing education and future careers.

The small school colors are Blue and Gold.

Specialized Courses:

• Accounting
• Business Management & Ownership
• Business Environments
• Career and Life Management
• Computerized Accounting
• Computer Applications
• Forensics
• Law Office Procedures
• You and the Law

LAB Website

Multimedia and Visual Arts School (MVAS)

Provides a unique learning environment, which combines artistic creativity with strong core academics throughout the curriculum. The MVAS experience is designed to nurture the talents of individual students while preparing them for college and future careers. Students are exposed to the real world through internships, job shadows, and field trips. Students can also take advantage of the special facilities and a one-of-a-kind outdoor art studio.

The small school colors are black and purple.

Specialized Courses:

• Art 1 & 2
• Design Mixed Media
• Drawing & Painting
• AP Studio Art
• Video Production
• Computerized Graphic Design
• Web Design
• Multimedia Production

MVAS Website

Community Service Requirements

Students who choose to attend CHAMPs or IDEA are required to commit to community service hours in order to graduate. CHAMPs students are required to have 30 hours of community service every year while IDEA students are required to have 30 hours during the 10th grade only. Several opportunities for community service are available, from organizations from on or off the campus, or to be done solely by the student. On-campus organizations include Division 11 Key Club, the largest community service organization on the campus, which recently returned to Crawford by the 2010-2011 school year, Peer Helpers, an active but smaller organization that has been on campus for more than 3 decades, and Auroras, an organization that has been on campus since the 1960's, is only for seniors who have a 3.0 or better GPA. Off-campus organizations include the San Diego Asian Youth Organization and the East African Youth Organization, both based at the UPAC center. Community service requirements were put forth in an effort to boost college acceptances.

Feeder schools

Public feeder schools include two middle schools and eight elementary schools.

Middle Schools

• Horace Mann Middle School
• Monroe Clark Middle School

Elementary schools

• Carver Elementary School
• Euclid Elementary School
• Henry Clay Elementary School
• Herbert Ibarra Elementary School
• John Marshall Elementary School
• Mary Lanyon Fay Elementary School
• Oak Park Elementary School
• Rolando Park Elementary School

Centaur

Centaur is Crawford's award-winning, nationally recognized yearbook

Yearbook

A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...

. It consistently takes best of class and places within the top 2 at the San Diego County Fair

San Diego County Fair

The San Diego County Fair is a county fair held every summer at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in Del Mar, California...

 and other contests. A Centaur

Centaur

In Greek mythology, a centaur or hippocentaur is a member of a composite race of creatures, part human and part horse...

 is a Greek mythilogical creature that is half human and half horse.

San Diego County Fair Awards

Year	Place	Best of Class
2002	2nd Place
2003	1st Place
2004	1st Place
2005	1st Place
2006	1st Place
2007	2nd Place
2008	2nd Place
2009	2nd Place
2010	1st Place
2011	1st Place

Welcome Back Dance

Hosted at the beginning of the school year, each year a new theme is chosen.

Club rush

An event held in the main quad every October to help encourage students to join School Clubs to get involved. Club Booths are setup around the quad.

Spirit Week

An tradition that is held week-long during mid-October. It holds over several events, the Homecoming Game, Homecoming Dance, School Spirit days throughout the week, and multiple rallies.

Harvest Festival

A festival held on the Thursday one week from Thanksgiving Day. The school clubs participate by selling food at booths. Music and dance are performed in the main quad.

Love Festival

Similar to the Harvest Festival, it celebrates Valentines Day instead of Thanksgiving.

End-of-Term Dodgeball Game

A dodgeball tournament between freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Finalist take on the school staff. Held at the end of every semester.

International Affair

In celebration of Crawfords vast diversity, the event is held every May on the baseball field to remind students about their ethnic background and cultural spirit. Food booths, music and dance are added to this event as well.

Senior Basketball Game

The Seniors take on the teachers in basketball game held a couple of days before graduation.

Senior Barbeque

A barbeque dedicated to the seniors. Yearbook signing party is held the same day.

Class colors

Freshmen - White

White

White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...

Sophomores - Red

Red

Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...

Juniors - Blue

Blue

Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal...

Seniors - Black

Black

Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...

Student clubs

• Academic League
• Adventure Club
• AJROTC
• Art Club
• Auroras
• Badminton Club
• CSF
• Center for Social Justice
• Cheer
• Cheese Club
• Day Hikers Club
• Diamonds in the Rough
• Football Club
• FEA
• Garden Club
• GSA
• Golf Club
• Health Club
• International College Bound
• Japanese Club
• Journalism Club
• Key Club
• Leadership Club
• MECHA
• Mu Alpha Theta
• Music Club
• Origami Club
• Robotics Club
• Peer Helpers
• Poetry Club
• Points of Interest
• Soccer Club
• Southeast Asian Club
• Spanish Club
• Step Team
• Student Store Club
• Tennis Club
• Vietnamese Club
• Yearbook

Sports

Crawford's main rival are the neighboring Hoover Cardinals located just westbound on El Cajon Boulevard. Other significant rivals include the Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry High School (San Diego, California)

Patrick Henry High School is a public high school in San Diego, California. It is part of the San Diego Unified School District. It is attended by students in grades 9-12 residing in Del Cerro, San Carlos, Allied Gardens, Mission Valley and the College Area....

 Patriots, Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln High School (San Diego)

Abraham Lincoln High School , is an urban public high school in San Diego, California. It is part of the San Diego Unified School District. It serves approximately 2100-2700 students in grades 9-12 in the American K-12 education system...

 Hornets and Helix

Helix High School

Helix High School, in La Mesa, California, is a charter high school built in 1952. It received its charter in 1998. Part of the Grossmont Union High School District, it serves a low to mid-level socioeconomic community and has a student body of approximately 2,400 pupils...

 Scotties.

List of CIF Championships

Sport	Title(s) Won	Runner-Up
Badminton Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...	1990, 1991, 1992, 1993	1989, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2008, 2009
Baseball Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...	1962, 1964, 1965	1966, 1967, 1969
Boy's Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...	1963, 2006
Girl's Basketball
Boy's Cross Country Cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...	1973, 1974	1975, 1976
Girl's Cross Country Cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
Football American football American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...	1961	1985
Boy's Golf Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....	1965, 1967, 2010	1975
Girl's Golf
Boy's Gymnastics Gymnastics Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...	1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968
Girl's Gymnastics Gymnastics Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
Boy's Soccer	2002, 2003, 2010, 2011
Girls Soccer	2010, 2011
Softball Softball Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...	1985	1986
Swimming Swimming (sport) Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...	1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972	1973, 1974
Boy's Tennis Tennis Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...	1969, 2002, 2003	1970, 2000
Girl's Tennis
Boy's Track and Field Track and field Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...	1974	1975, 1987
Girl's Track and Field	1977, 1978, 1979, 1981	1976, 1982, 1987
Boy's Volleyball Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...		2010
Girl's Volleyball
Boy's Waterpolo	1970, 1971	1972, 1976, 1979, 1983, 1984
Girl's Waterpolo
Wrestling Wrestling Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...	2003

Notable People

• Carlos Amezcua
  Carlos Amezcua
  Carlos Amezcua is the co-anchor of the KTTV FOX 11. newscast. Amezcua joined KTTV in September 2007.Amezcua, a Southern California native,studied at BYU and San Diego State College....
  
  , TV news anchor
• Stephen Bishop
  Stephen Bishop (musician)
  Stephen Bishop is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and guitarist.-History:Bishop was born in San Diego, California, and attended Will C. Crawford High School...
  
  , singer, songwriter
• Dave Duncan
  Dave Duncan (baseball)
  David Edwin Duncan is an American former professional baseball player and current pitching coach for the St. Louis Cardinals...
  
  , Major League Baseball player
• William Gore, Sheriff of San Diego County
• Jim Peterson, Professional player, National Football League
• Phyllis Schwartz, Vice President of NBC Universal TV
• Mike Stamm, Olympic Swimmer/silver medalist
• Valerie Ziegenfuss
  Valerie Ziegenfuss
  Valerie Bradshaw is an American former female professional tennis player. She started off as an amateur player at the beginning of the 1970s before turning professional....
  
  , Top-ranked WTA tennis player

James T. Sams Gymnasium

Crawford's gym was named in honor Mr.James T. Sams who served 37 consecutive years as the basketball coach from 1959 until he retired in 1996. He continues his devotion and is still well known today around the Crawford community.

Alma mater

All hail Crawford High School,

Crimson, white and blue,

Loyalty and honor

We will pledge to you,

Our banner's always waving,

Crowned with victory,

All hail Crawford High School,

We will be true to thee!

See also

• List of high schools in San Diego County, California
• List of high schools in California
• Crawford Educational Complex